


The Need To Feel

by marsprince



Category: Iron Fist (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), Luke Cage (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: First Kiss, First Meetings, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Past Drug Addiction, Past Drug Use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 20:33:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11676570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsprince/pseuds/marsprince
Summary: Ward Meachum was born rich. Malcolm Ducasse wasn't. Ward always had everything he wanted at the slightest reach of his fingers, living in enormous penthouses and driving expensive cars. While Malcolm had to work day and night to pay the rent at his miserable apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. In a universe where anything is possible, they happen to find each other.





	The Need To Feel

**Author's Note:**

> Like the vast majority of people, I found Ward Meachum to be the most likeable character in the whole season one of Iron Fist. His hypothetical relation with another character who also suffered from drug addiction, made me see a powerful bond between both of them. This story has been in my head for a few months now, and yet, I'm still constructing it. Enjoy.

There was something very soothing, Ward had once decided, about the fall of rain as it heated against the warmth seeping from his bedroom window and ran gently down and along the glass. That truth continued to hold once more as he stared into the dreary light of the morning.

It was already pouring in the loud streets of New York, and Ward was late for a meeting, when he opened the taxi cab door two blocks earlier from the Rand building, and accidentally dropped his Italian leather wallet in a puddle so deep he couldn’t even see the goddamn thing when he turned around. Because of course it was, and of course he did. Because goddamn his assistant for scheduling him in a meeting at seven thirty in the morning with the other executives.

He stopped in his track and bowed his head to stare disdainfully at the flooded ground under his umbrella. Why had he even put his wallet and phone in the same pocket of his coat? Of course, he would pull up both by mistake and drop one or the other. He sighed so deeply his whole body juddered with the motion.

Ward seriously didn’t want to stick his hand in that filth, and to be honest, was there really anything in that wallet that he needed? His cards could be replaced, there were some bills in there, but they were probably shot to hell by now. He supposed he could just leave it and replace everything when he got to his office.

Mind made up, he took one step before he remembered the picture of him and Joy as kids that he reluctantly carried around in his wallet. It was probably stupid of him to carry something so important to him (probably the only important thing he owned) in something so easily lost as a wallet, but there you go. He couldn’t lose that picture, even if it was water damaged now.

With a new sigh he turned back around, and the first thing that met him were a couple of eyes gleaming through the thick drops of water falling from above. _It’s probably a robber_ , his panicked mind thought, while he stared at the figure in fight or flight. Or… no, that was ridiculous. As Ward took half a step forward, teeth got bared in a smile, and yes, this was a crook, and he was prepared to defend his price.

Ward was of course being silly (it was probably the annoyance of the whole wallet-debacle) because this was just a harmless human male looking at him with curiosity.

And a very handsome one, too.

"Um…" The man cleared his throat awkwardly and it was only then that Ward realized he was holding the wet stray wallet. "Did you, uh, want this back or…?"

Ah, he must have seen him drop it and…

Ward took a long look at the guy and noticed several things. The first one, was his overall appearance, which told Ward that he clearly had been struggling with some financial issues for a long time. He wore clean, yet worn clothes, and had a kind of tired appearance in general.

"Actually, no." He stated with a cold tone, and watched with clear distrust as the other man blinked owlishly at him. "I would just like the picture of my sibling in it, if you don’t mind."

"Dude, ‘m not robbing you. The fuck?" The guy exclaimed and extended his arm to hold out Ward’s wallet to him.

Ward frowned. "Well then." Their fingers brushed when he accepted his wallet back, and even though Ward’s fingers were slightly wet and cold from the rain, the man´s were like icicles in comparison.

He stood a bit shorter than Ward and his long curls were matted down by the rain. His dark cheeks were covered by a thin beard, and his eyelashes were clumped together from the water. He had a strong jawline and broad shoulders though, and Ward could instantly see that this man was well built as he stood confident and defiant in front of him.

Without thinking, he pulled out a fifty-dollar bill (wrinkling his nose at how wet it was) and held it out to the man.

"I don’t need charity." The man replied angrily.

Ward blinked at the biting tone. "Did I say that you do? Consider this payment for picking up my wallet for me, I wouldn’t have stuck my hand in there."

The man looked at him with round eyes. "You knew you’d dropped it? And you would’ve just left it?" he glanced incredulous down at the fifty. "With this much money in it?"

Ward frowned down at the money. _Much?_ Well, considering that the man most likely lived in some poor neighborhood, then _yes,_ he supposed.

"I have more." He cringed inwardly at how that sounded. Ward was rich and influential and he still demanded a certain respect, but he wasn´t that arrogant anymore. "The picture, however, is priceless, so thank you." He waved the bill and the man finally accepted it.

"Okay, if you’re sure." The guy mumbled and looked a bit at a loss as to where to put the money since all his clothes were wet by now. "I’ll keep it."

"I should hope not." Ward pocketed his wallet again because apparently, he was incapable of learning his lesson.

"What?"

"You should spend it, not keep it. I can’t imagine what a soggy fifty-dollar bill would be good for if not to buy something before the rain destroys it."

"I…" the man suddenly grinned and good Lord, Ward’s knees kind of felt weak. "Sure, I’ll do that."

"Good." Ward stated crisply and turned around to continue his trek to the Rand building.

His heart was hammering a hundred miles an hour and he couldn’t believe he was a rich man in his thirties getting flustered over a random guy he met in the street. What the hell was wrong with him? He should start taking Hogarth advice, and take a private car to the office instead of a cab.

 

* * *

 

 

It took about three hours for Ward’s concentration to completely slip from the droning of his subordinates and to the early meeting he had that morning. And, unfortunately, as soon as he let his concentration go, his imagination joined in on it, and twenty minutes later he could think of nothing else but the stranger´s smile.

It was unusual and disconcerting for him to lose his mind like this, but what else could he do when his mind kept feeding him images of the man´s face? And, now that he thought more about it, the man´s body as well. Sure, he had seemed slim under the worn denim jacket and the sweatshirt underneath, but he had held himself well. Especially considering how Ward had reacted at him when…

Ward sat up straighter in his chair when he realized he was basically daydreaming (in the middle of a corporate meeting) about a person he had only met for a few minutes, and whose name didn’t even know. He had been referring to the guy as, well, a homeless man, but he was sure that was his old self speaking. The one before his father’s death, and the one before the meeting with the actual homeless man Danny Rand.  And… why did Ward even care? It wasn’t like he would be going back there, he had enough money to hire a different private driver for every day of the next 50 years. He would take Jeri’s advice and then…

"Mr. Meachum? Did you have something to add?"

Ward blinked a few times when he realized everyone’s eyes were on him. He cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes at the man who had spoken. "In fact Robert, I do have a few questions."

Using his employees’ first names elevated him over them in a way that was very clear with smarmy asses like Robert Adler. Mostly, Ward was on a first-name basis with his subordinates because he got along with them, but with most of them it was a power play, and Ward never lost.

"Oh?" Robert smiled a little too invitingly. "By all means."

As if he had a say in the matter. Ward stood up and buttoned his jacket.

"From what I’ve understood from your thorough report, we’re having trouble with the overseas product management assigned in the Stark Industries monthly contract, but you have yet to grace us with the reason for it. Do tell."

Robert floundered for a moment, making him look like an overgrown toad. In the back of the meeting room, Ward could see more than one person sniggering behind their hands, so he glared at them until they stopped. As much as he disliked the director his sister had chosen for the sales management, this was actually an important matter. They had been working on the improvement of sales in Europe for months now, and the Stark´s directive was a real pain in the ass when it came about collaboration. Especially since the long scandal that Rand had suffered a few months ago. All thanks to kung- _fuckhead_ -Danny’s surprising return. At his time as a CEO, Ward was known for getting those contracts done in just a few days, and now he would be damned before he broke his impeccable track record just because of Robert’s incompetence.

"It’s just that, I suppose negotiations failed, I mean, sometimes people change their minds…"

Ward gave Robert what was known as his patented smite-squint (Ward wasn’t supposed to know that name, he knew, but he had actually smiled to himself when he had his employees mention it) and it shut the older man up.

"Let me make myself very clear, Rob. You will personally go down to Stark Industries today and _you_ will sort this out."

"M-me?" Robert looked absolutely outraged. Yes, he was just the kind of pompous ass that thought his running days were over now that he had reached the directive, but no dice. No cozy office jobs for slackers under Ward’s administration (as long as Joy or Danny didn’t know).

"Yes, you. Bring with you whoever you feel you need, and close the damn deal with Stark." Ward rubbed his fingers against his forehead as he sighed tiredly and stepped away from the table, thoroughly fed up with unnecessarily long and pointless first hour meetings. "Do not make me handle this absurdity myself."

He left the conference room with that and headed straight for his own office, intent on about a bucket of coffee. He knew his father had always relied on shadier ways when handling employee’s mistakes, but Ward was not his father. He would never fall so low. He might have struggled with an addiction very recently… And he might have killed his father too. But only to find out later that he had become some kind of immortal thing. His life sure was better now compared to his time in a mental asylum. And so far, negotiations for Rand had been going along fine with other industries. Or so Ward had thought.

His personal assistant was at her desk when he stomped past, and she knew enough to give him a few moments before she entered his office. He was just sitting down and loosening his tie when she came in with a tray of coffee, and his favorite sandwich from the cafeteria down on floor six.

"God, you’re a life-saver." He groaned and took a bite off the sandwich, using the coffee to rinse it down.

The assistant blushed like she sometimes did when he praised her, probably because he didn’t do it very often and not to anyone except for Joy, and even with her, the occasions were very few.

"I just thought you would be needing something after a meeting with Mr. Adler."

"That man is insufferable." Ward muttered and leaned back in his chair. "He could have brought this to my attention without a big meeting like this. He wasted everyone’s time."

"I suppose everyone wants to feel important sometimes, sir." She smiled and retrieved the tray from his desk. "By the way, have you seen what your sister sent you?"

She gestured to the side and he only then noticed the big bouquet of flowers that someone had put in a vase in the west-facing window. It was a simple but lovely gathering of red tulips, and then he realized they hadn´t speak face to face in a while.

"There was a card with it too, wishing you a happy birthday." The young woman smiled and pointed to the card that was leaned against the vase. "I didn’t know it was your birthday, sir."

Ward frowned slightly. "It was last weekend." He mumbled and sipped his coffee. "I don’t celebrate it."

"Well," The young woman blushed again, for no apparent reason. "Happy birthday anyway, sir."

She left with that and Ward didn’t even watch her go. His eyes weren´t glued to the flowers but to the crystal behind them. He wasn’t thinking about his sister or Danny. No, what he was focusing on were the thick drops of water that were still falling against the window. Because of course they reminded him of that man.

 

* * *

 

 

Ward took a cab home, but there was nothing out of the ordinary with that. Sometimes he had to stay even later and entertain customers or business partners. That usually ended with them going out, and Ward (Rand) treating them to dinner. Sometimes (when Joy had finished too) Ward would join his sister for dinner. But apparently not anymore. In either case, he often had to take a cab because their outings took him too far away from his city apartment.

But most nights he just stayed a little longer than intended and then went home. Spent his evening alone with a whisky bottle, wishing he was in his villa by the lake, and maybe reading. Went to bed way too late for someone who had to get up at five in the morning, and then went to work to shake the last tendrils of sleep from his otherwise sharp mind.

So yes, that he ended up taking a cab home was nothing weird. What ended up weirding him out, though, was that he hadn’t been able to relax at home lately. His apartment felt too big, empty. He turned to the corner expecting to see someone there, and found himself disappointed when he didn’t. Which was foolish because back in “ _happier_ ” times, Ward had always prided himself in being a loner.

He spent the evening and most of the night pointedly not thinking about that guy he had met (and making no connections between the meeting and his sudden loneliness, of course). Instead, he focused on feeling bad about not calling Joy and ended up vowing to call her the next evening.

The morning after, he found himself walking out of his apartment much earlier than usual (which was saying something since he was usually early) and he had a weird giddiness to his step. The more he approached the entrance of his building, though, the less giddy he felt. Because what was wrong with him? What was he even doing?

All day yesterday he had been distracted, and that was not him. He was always very precise and now he was starting to feel moody because of the intrusive emotions from yesterday. It couldn’t have anything to do with his meeting with that man, right? That meeting had been far too brief and had entailed nothing for him to even linger on. It was ridiculous, that was what it was.

By the time the car came to the street where he had met the man, he couldn’t help but stop and glance around. He got even madder at himself for it but as soon as his eyes landed on the guy who was leaning against the still wet wall of bricks, while silently drinking coffee from a paper cup as he watched the Manhattan streets waking up.

Although… Ward tilted his head to the side in thought. New York was a big city, so it wasn’t that weird that he had never met the man before. What was odd was that he had met him for the first time here yesterday and only now did he noticed the man. Ward’s main route from his apartment to Rand never had changed, and he had never really seen him in Hell’s Kitchen before.

"Am I _still_ this self-absorbed?" he mumbled to his driver, and suddenly was saddened when he realized that yes, he probably was.

Maybe the guy was new to the neighborhood, or maybe he had been living here for years and Ward had never even spared a glance in this direction to notice him. Maybe it was for the best, maybe he shouldn’t get involved. And yet, as he looked at the attractive man who now wearing a heavy leather jacket, he couldn’t help but wanting to be involved in something new.

He shook his head at himself and his ride continued the way to the office. Maybe he should, or maybe he shouldn’t, either way he didn’t have the time right now, because his work was obviously very important. At least that was what he had told himself, and he managed to convince himself of this all day, all the way until he had ended his conversation with Joy late in the evening when he realized he was being a fool.

He hadn’t told Joy about the strange encounter, of course, but he had wanted to. And he would, if nothing else told him that it was important for her to know. He had kept his mouth shut about it, though, and had listened to her talk about her trip overseas. Neither of them mentioned their father but that was nothing unusual at this point. None of them would forget about what had happened to him and how he had deserved every second of it, but that didn’t make it easy to talk about.

Ward couldn’t sleep that night.

The next day, Ward jumped into his shower and put on his suit with a single-minded determination, and he practically stomped out of his apartment building while putting on his coat, making the concierge and a few people to raise their eyebrows, but Ward couldn’t care less about that.

He had climbed the car to accelerate his way through the city, and now he was walking up to the building in Hell’s Kitchen with his heart pounding against his chest, and his ears ringing loud with no other thought in his brain but to reach for the man. In no time at all, and this time (to a strange kind of relief) he saw the guy coming from the building with two cups of coffee, his wild hair extending over his head. So, he had been right and the man did live here. He didn’t know why, but it made him both sad and happy.

The man waited patiently for a few minutes while Ward stood there; across the street and practically hiding behind a parked food truck as he nervously watched. Feeling himself incapable of making any actual contact at all.

Suddenly, a black-haired woman in a leather jacket seemed to appear from thin air, and headed towards the stone steps of the building he was staring at. Ward’s breath froze inside his throat as he stared incredulous at the mysterious figure that seemed to have popped up from nowhere beneath the cold morning light. She walked with a heavy pace as she reached for one of the coffees the man had brought with him and drank with tired gestures, before casually leaning down to whisper something in the guy’s ear, and then disappearing inside the building with a small groan while sipping from the cup again.

The guy suddenly lifted his gaze, right towards the business man’s direction as he stepped at the border of the sidewalk with curiosity. A grin spread over the younger man´s lips and Ward could do nothing but stare at him frozen as he realized he had just being caught spying.

"Hey suit man." The guy called with a soft laugh "Here to inspect your investment? Or if you’re looking to get your money back? Then I’d say you’re too late."

"Back?" Ward parroted dumbly and crossed the street, the man frowned before looking down.

"Yeah, not the first time someone regretted giving me something, you know?" before Ward could come up with an appropriate answer the other looked up with a new grin. "But I already spent your fifty, so there."

Ward frowned, mostly in. "I wanted you to spend it, otherwise I wouldn’t have given it to you. I normally don’t do things arbitrarily."

The man blinked and sipped from his coffee. "Oh. Well, thank you then."

"Can I, um…" Ward never hesitated. He bought time by looking at his watch, which was largely unnecessary because he already knew he would be late. "What did you buy?"

This made the younger one grin again (he seemed to do that a lot) but it looked more sincere than before.

"Wanna check if I got drugs?" he laughed when Ward most probably looked guilty. It was a beautiful laugh, if laughs could be called beautiful. "I didn’t, don’t worry. I´ve been clean for a few months now, got me some canned food and this." He pointed one finger at his own jacket. "Can you believe I got it for only nine bucks at that thrift shop down the road? It even feels like it’s genuine leather."

He was grinning and touching the jacket, and before Ward could even think about his actions, he had stepped up to the man and gripped the lapels. The guy stopped moving and stared up at Ward with wide eyes and tense shoulders.

"It is genuine." Ward stated with a serious face. "Nine dollars is a bargain, this was a smart purchase."

The man swallowed and looked up at Ward through his lashes with cautious eyes. It set a fire in Ward’s gut and he stepped back almost as if burned. Thankfully the other man didn’t seem to notice. He just stroked the jacket over his arm again.

"Thank you, man."

"Ward."

"What?"

Ward was so stupid and it was throwing him for a loop right now because he was never stupid. He was always so very on top of himself, but that man unsettled him in the best of ways, which was of course not good. But for fuck’s sake, he lived in a world where magic and aliens were very, _very_ real. So, why not take a damn shot?

Well, no point in going back now.

"My name is Ward."

The guy’s grin grew to twice its size, almost blinding Ward with its shine. "Thank you, Ward."

God, hearing his name in this dude’s voice felt much nicer than anything Ward had felt in a long time. Granted, it had been quite some time since he had had sex, and even longer since he had tried his hand at dating, but to be this affected by something so simple was embarrassing at his age. He was no blushing virgin and he was well-acquainted with his homosexuality, but that didn’t mean that it was okay for him to feel _this_ attracted to a random stranger. No, not only that. He felt protective over him, in a way he could only compare to his care for Joy.

Ward just nodded silently and started walking to his office in a haze. It took all the way until lunch (which his assistant had to remind him of, again) until he realized he hadn’t asked for the guy’s name back. Ward never missed golden opportunities like that, and the shame of it was what it forced him to take his cab home like usual instead of walking home in the hopes of seeing the fellow with wild hair in his leather jacket again.

 

* * *

 

 

Two days later, Ward had somewhat confirmed that the man seemed to be a morning person. He stood every morning at the same spot. Always waiting for the dark-haired woman in particular. His girlfriend maybe? Ward didn’t want to think about that.

For some reason, all of this made him want to not take a cab home in the evenings, but he was still too nervous (which was incredibly new to him when meeting new people) to try and contact the man so directly.

By the time lunch rolled around, Ward had managed to get himself talked into going out to eat. Rand owned a big building that housed many things, including not one, but three employee restaurants and a cafeteria. Joy (who had just returned that morning and suddenly appeared at Ward’s office without giving any explanation), on the other hand, wanted to go out and try the "local cuisine" of New York that she had missed so much, as she put it. Ward usually didn’t care enough to bother, but Joy had returned now. So he agreed to go with her. He only wished it wasn’t raining, but they had at least been smart enough to ask at the ground floor reception for an umbrella.

"The lines here are always insane." Joy said with a kind of giddiness no one should have when talking about lines. "The food must be incredible."

Ward scanned the large café with a disinterest that usually made Joy sigh. "I can’t believe you’ve never eaten here before. It’s only a block from the office."

Joy shrugged as they shuffled along in the line. "I like to sit down when I eat."

A weird comment made not so weird when Ward glanced over at the overfilled tables. They would probably have to take the food back with them to the office, and now that Ward thought about it, he hadn’t really eaten here either. He just remembered the name because he usually passed it on his way to work and because his assistant sometimes brought him food from here. No need to say that to Joy, though.

"We’ll bring it back."

"Naturally."

Ward resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his sister. Unlike Ward, Joy had always been the spoiled one in the family. He had been overprotective over her since he had been old enough to, and the only way he could release his anger as a kid was to bully on Danny. But now he realized there was a hard personality in his sister as well, which was probably the only reason Ward hadn’t tried to keep Joy from packing three months ago when she insisted on taking that “trip to find herself in Europe”.

In any case he agreed with Joy on this. There was no way they would get seating in here, plus Ward didn’t like how the wonderful aromas from the food mixed with the cloying scent of wet people. He usually enjoyed the fall but he didn’t enjoy rain.

Of course, thoughts about the weather drew his attention to one of the big windows that faced the street. The rain had miraculously stopped for now.

Yes he had told Ward that he had bought canned food but that was usually mostly cold, right? Ward didn’t know because he had never eaten canned food. He supposed there were several homeless shelters around Chicago where the man could go to get some warm… soup? Ward didn’t know about that either and he was starting to get mad at himself. He wasn’t entitled, he wasn’t, but he had been somewhat privileged while growing up, that was true. His family hadn’t been rich but they had definitely not been poor either. Certainly not homeless shelter food poor.

"Shrimp salad, extra lemon."

Ward snapped to attention when he heard Joy’s order. He had zoned out for so long that they were already at the counter and the cashier was looking expectantly at him as her colleague wrapped up Joy’s order.

One quick glance at the display cage made up Ward’s now impulsive mind. "How long to heat up the cinnamon roll?"

The cashier looked at him. "Two minutes, sir."

He nodded. "Ring it up."

She nodded and he was pleased to see that her colleague had already finished with Joy and had started in on his order.

"I’ll wait by the door." Joy said just as Ward paid for the food.

"Don’t bother, take the umbrella and go back. I just remembered I have an errand to run."

"But…" Joy looked confused. "You’ll get wet."

"I don’t think it will start raining again, I’ll survive."

Joy looked at him one more time with concerned eyes, and then headed to the street and searched for an empty cab.

A few minutes later Ward found himself walking down the street in the pouring rain trying to get himself a cab, doing his best to shield the bag he had gotten the food in. Now he just hoped the man would be at home or he would feel really stupid.

Thankfully when he got to the street, he saw that the man was just getting inside the building, holding an umbrella over his slightly wet hair. He turned around when he heard Ward's calling him.

"Hey!"

"Oh." The man stared at him a little alarmed. "Ward? What in the fuck?"

Ward waved his hand. "You’ll get drenched, get back inside." He looked down at his soaked coat and flashed a smile without knowing, pointing at the paper box inside the bag. “I… I brought you something.”

The man eyed him almost suspiciously. "Well then, you get in too."

"I’m already wet."

"No need to get wetter." The man sniffed and stepped aside, gesturing for Ward to get inside the building. Ward hesitated long enough outside for the man to poke his head out and glare at him. "Come on, it’s drier in here. I swear."

With a huff (directed at himself) Ward climbed up the stone steps and entered the building.

“What the fuck, man?” The guy was looking at Ward with confused eyes as he pointed at the dripping coat. “What are you doing...? All those expensive suits and not even an umbrella to get here?”

Ward shivered a little and tried to smile again. “I wanted to apologize for leaving so abruptly last time.” He shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other as he tried to search for a better excuse. “I brought food…”

“Well that’s so nice from you, but don’t you think that coming all the way from Rand to Hell’s Kitchen in the middle of a storm is a little… Weird?” The guy was now smiling a little. He still had his arms crossed over his chest with a sarcastic pose.

“I didn’t get _here_ walking, I took a- wait…” Ward stopped from shaking his coat and stared at the other man deep into his eyes. “How did you know I work at Rand?”

“Got my contacts. Once you visited me that second time, did you seriously thought I wouldn’t at least ask them to search for a rich and good-looking man that worked in this area of New York? Other than Tony Stark, obviously… Besides, I kinda knew that your face looked a little bit familiar… After all that drama in the news with the Danny kid and stuff…” The man smirked when he saw Ward’s overwhelmed expression. “Also, when your wallet fell into that puddle, I may have opened it after I picked it up and seen a Rand’s card key.” He added with a playful tone.

Ward lowered his gaze slowly. “You are quite the detective, aren’t you?”

The man laughed softly and reached for the plastic bag from Ward’s hand and headed to the elevator. “My friend is the detective. I think you have seen her before.” He pressed a button and glanced at Ward, who was still paralyzed in the middle of the lobby. "My name’s Malcolm."

Ward blinked at the suddenness of it and then cleared his throat when the man turned expectant eyes on him.

"Well then… Malcolm. Nice to meet you."

Malcolm’s smile grew a little. “Come on rich man, let’s get you a towel while that suit dries.”

Ward hesitated a little, but ended up following the man into the elevator. He was feeling a little bit more relaxed now that this guy knew who he was, and actually seemed pretty cool about it. _“No need to hide more things for now”_ , he thought, trying to smile.


End file.
